1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to containers in general and in particular to an insulated food storage container having protection for the edges of an applied graphics sheet.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable insulated containers, or coolers, as they are commonly referred to as are well known in the art. Conventional cooler construction comprises forming a blow molded outer shell. A vacuum formed inner liner is then placed within the outer shell and the space between the inner liner and outer shell may then be commonly filled with an expanding foam insulation. The inner liner and outer shell are typically connected to each other at their upper ends to sealably contain the insulation. The interior space defined by the inner line provides the storage space for food articles or the like and may be enclosed with a lid which may also be insulated.
Conventional coolers typically have a monochromatic outer shell which is the color of the material used to form that shell. As a result, coolers are typically not fully utilized for advertising or displaying of logos and graphics as are typical with other types of consumer products. For example, it is common for sports teams or schools to apply their logos to a variety of merchandise such as mugs, clothes, glasses and the like for sale to their supporters. Sales of such merchandise are often highly desirable both for enhancing the profile of the team as well as permitting these fans to demonstrate their support.
Several difficulties have heretofore limited the ability to apply graphics to the exterior surface of coolers. Cooler are required to be both relatively inexpensive to produce as well as rugged to cope with the impacts and rough treatment such products regularly endure. The rough treatment that coolers endure has limited the ability to apply paint or images directly to the cooler. Such paint would typically not endure the repeated abrasions of the surface of the cooler against various objects and would result in the paint becoming scrapped away in places and therefore visually unappealing. Additionally, the blow molding techniques typically utilized to form conventional coolers results in an uneven surface that is often inadequate for application of a paint or a graphics sheet thereto.
Additionally, graphic bearing sheets have also not previously provided an appropriate solution for applying graphics to coolers. Graphics sheets have edges which may be prone to being caught or hooked on objects. Therefore, any graphic sheets applied to a cooler needs to have these edges protected from such contacts. Previous methods of protecting these edges has been to recess a region into a single flat surface on the cooler body into which the graphics sheet may be applied. This method limits the graphics sheet to a single surface or requires multiple applications to surround the cooler resulting in a broken total image or excessive cost of manufacture. Such graphics sheets are also typically relatively small so as to provide sufficient space around the graphics sheet for the raised protectors. Graphics of this type have not been able to provide a single image that surrounds the entire body of the cooler.